Pondering - 3-D

3-D glasses, you know those dorky things you wear on your head during a movie to give you the crazy effects. Ok so most of the time they are lame.... especially when they are those cheap ones that you get in cereal boxes and stuff when you are little, you know those red and blue lenses.. oh yeah they are cool :P. But I have seen some pretty cool effects done at some Walt Disney attractions with them.




Anyway how did I get on this topic? Well I was watching the trailer for the movie "My Bloody Valentine" and I was like... 3-D movies are usually lame... but for some reason I want to see this because its in 3-D (I feel like a little kid at this point since I'm being pulled in by what I know deep down will be a lame gimick, but hey I do like horror movies.)



But it got me wondering how do these glasses work?



Well there are 2 methods...



The first method is called the Red/Blue or Red/Green method (the color of the lenses on those funky glasses) it works by making each of your eyes see different images. The different color lenses on the glasses make it so that your one eye sees only one image and your other eye sees only the second image. This allows the images to be layered on top of each other and make it seem like something is jumping out of the screen at you. However this method doesn't allow for as good of quality as the 2nd method because your view is constantly being filtered though the color in the lenses.



The second method is called Polarization and uses polarized lenses... this method is used at special theatres designed for 3-D viewing such as at Walt Disney world or theme parks. It requires two projectors to project two different views onto the screen (why it looks blurry when you take the glasses off and watch the movie) but the images are at different polarization. Each lens only allows the eye to pick up one of the 2 polarities.



Just think if we had 3 eyes could we see 4-D?



So does anyone want to go see "My Bloody Valentine"?





Bonus Facts:




Edwin Herbert Land was the inventor who introduced 3-D glasses to movie goers



The first 3-D movie was "The Power of Love" released in 1922



The 1950's were considered the hey-day of 3-D movies